My partner and me created Michtims back in 2008, we had a lot of fun creating the hidden kingdom of Turnaya that lay just outside of humans’ perception. There was one thing we hadn’t agreed on though. Sizes. His Michtims were about cat-sized, mine were rather hamster-sized. In the end, I used my size scheme as basis for the publication, but sometimes you might think that Michtims should be bigger. Right? Haha. Yeah. You can absolutely do this.

One of the accomplishments of Felixus Honigpfote (=honeypaw), my partner’s alter ego, was creating an alchemical shrinking/growing paste. After applying (or eating) this substance, your size (including your equipment) would change either up or down.

Regarding the previous post about Sizes in Michtim RPG, there is of course also a smaller size category. Keeping with the d20 size categories, I could simply call it Diminutive (Health 1) or we could use Michtim lingo and call it mene. Michtim lingo would call Tiny mini as well.

Anyway. Applying a dose of shrinking/growing paste changes your size one step up or down from your original size. To shrink/grow further, you need a much rarer ultra-shrink/grow paste that can set your size to any point in the spectrum. Depending on the method you apply the paste, the effect either lingers for a few hours (smearing the paste onto the fur and equipment) or until it is alchemically revoked (ingesting the paste). The paste can also be used as filling of bocicne, to quite hilarious effect.

Yes. Humans can also be shrunk that way. Sometimes Michtims do that to take visitors to Turnaya. A side effect of the paste is, that shrunk humans might physically change into Michtims for the duration, while Michtims growing to Medium size might appear human because of the illusory power of the Veil.

I came to realize that Michtim lacks a size system that actually works. It isn’t complicated to find something fitting though. While working on the creature cards (doing streamlining), I figured out that the following would work quite well.

Size Categories

Tiny, Small, Medium, Large. You get the picture. Each category has a typical Health attribute:

Tiny: 5

Small: 10

Medium: 20

Large: 40

That’s the basic Health pool for a creature of that size. Creature Points can increase this number, but that’s not relevant for now. Sizes have other important uses:

Attacking a smaller Creature

Each size category smaller means -1 die to Attack, because the target is so small, it is harder to hit.

In case of a hit, the damage is increased +1, because the bigger creature is more powerful.

In effect, this is like a forced “Power Punch”.

Attacking a bigger Creature

Each size category bigger means +1 die to Attack, because the target is much bigger and therefore easier to hit.

A hit does -1 damage per size category bigger though, because bigger creatures are more resilient to the damage of small creatures.

This is a pretty valid simulation as well as a direct mirroring of the above rule.

Hiding from bigger Creatures

hidden creatures gain +1 bonus hit per size category they are smaller than their opponents; this is a one-way rule.

Sizes and Creatures

This allows some fairly straight forward interaction with most creatures that Michtims encounter in their adventures. It also means that humans (called Mensch), really are this game’s Dragons. They suffer -2 damage from Michtim attacks, and all their attacks deal +2 damage (though they rarely hit).

Back in 2012, I created my family friendly RPG Michtim: Fluffy Adventures. It was supposed to be a happy place for all sorts of gamers. Something worthwhile to protect against human intrusion. It is kind of utopian, though troubles and intrigue are still a part of the setting, of course. One thing is set in stone though: Michtims are an inclusive lot. They do not discriminate against others based on sexuality, identity, creed or fur color.

I wanted to make a stand for inclusivity in my game. I was highly disappointed of many games I came across that always made a point about heteronormative rulings (“characters of the opposite sex…”) or forcefully separated different genders in available roles or regarding stats and social status.

I wanted a game that just doesn’t care about my sexuality. There isn’t even a gender field on the character sheet. It wasn’t forgotten, it simply isn’t important. Female characters can have typically male features and vice versa, and there are also Meschne Michtim, who are in between or completely different from Male or Female stereotypes or bodily functions. They aren’t even seldom. Many Michtims are Meschne. My alter ego, who would be identified as male, is able to breastfeed, and nobody gives a damn. He’s technically Meschne. No need for labels.

Fast forward to 2016. I read a lot of negative feedbackabout games that fail to be inclusive. But all I think of is: why does nobody discuss the games that handle it in a good way? What about spreading some good vibes? Recommendations? I was waiting to be featured by fellow LGBT-friendly sites, but there wasn’t much coming out of that direction. I faltered. Maybe my game isn’t queer enough? Well. I want to make inclusive games more visible! That’s why I came up with this logo you can use to show your game’s support for inclusivity.

Go on! Share this post! Let’s make inclusivity in RPGs a thing that you can actively look for!

Creature Cards

These cards provide basic info about different species, like stuff you would find in a bestiary but without stats because those are found on Personality Cards. You combine a Creature Card, one Personality Card and up to three Calling Cards (if need be).

Krampus

Magical Folk (Tiny-Medium)
Health 7-20
Infernal Tongue
Guilt Sense
Terrifying: all creatures in the vicinity gain 1 Fear Marker at the end of every round; if a creature reaches their Fear Marker maximum, a Generic Wound is inflicted instead. Each round thereafter, the wound is upgraded one step.
Resilience (Magical Armor 2)

Work Log March 2016

My hubby is in hospital and I want to distract myself from being alone. With too much time on my hands, I try to create new stuff for Michtim: Fluffy Adventures that will really benefit the unique style of the game. Also I’ve got new tools to use! Ulysses is really helpful when creating tons of formatted text for blog posts and traditional writing. Love it! Check it out!

Finished Stuff

This is the list of all finished tasks so far.

Michtim Dice

There are now custom d6 for use with Michtim. They feature a variant 6 with the note „+Mood“ because Mood Markers are gained on the roll of each 6. There is also a prototype of an Emotion dice that could be used for mood swings. Sadly the production of these dice is fairly expensive and it has to wait until a later date (maybe a Kickstarter) to be worthwhile to produce.

Personality Cards

These cards help in character generation. If people can’t decide what to play, they can pick from one of ten unique personality cards. The cards also feature some questions to ask yourself when playing this character. These cards are best combined with the already existing Calling Cards to create neat characters.

Wound Cards

Michtims can now track wounds with style using Wound Cards. Each card has two faces. One is used for General Wounds (that is, wounds without wound effects). The other face shows rules for a specific wound effect, an illustration and info about the damage type (physical, magic or tech). Tracks run from 1 to 10 in the rare case that a creature has more than 7 Wound Tolerance. The deck contains 3 copies of 12 unique cards, bringing it to a total of 36 Wound Cards. That is the exact same amount as is used for the Calling Cards.

Stuff I’m working on

These are the projects I’m currently working on from time to time, but that are not finished yet.

Updated Core Rules

This is a big update in my opinion. I might want to create a separate book product to combine these into a new tome. For a KS I would instead create a new Core Rules product.

Calling Synergies

There are 66 unique combinations between all twelve Core Callings. I really want to write a short blurb for every combo to get creation started. Of course players can still have unique synergies as well, but to some, maybe a little input is a good idea. I figure that every Calling will receive a spread (double page) detailing each 5-6 Synergies. You would have a spread for the Cook, for example, and then have several synergies that go along with it like:

Cook + ……

Sorcerer = Alchemy. You create miniaturized potions. Friends can now carry up to three potions (instead of one meal). They can take any combination of your potions.

Machinist = Gadgets. You can create Accessories. They offer the usual boost to the attribute, but they have a Restore condition that says „spend an Action to wind up for one turn“.

Witch = Shelf Life. Your creations now last for a year and a day. If you decide to close your shop it no longer has an effect on your creations.

You can combine multiple synergies as well. Felixus Honigpfote is a Master Alchemist combining Sorcerer, Witch and Cook into extended potions that last really long and are super handy.

I am very exited for this new feature and it basically just takes a lot of time writing and coming up with new stuff. Maybe I can finish it soon. It would be a blast.

GM Support for running games

I was kinda inspired by Apocalypse World and Mutant: Year Zero lately. I really like no-prep games and Michtim was supposed to be such a game. It turns out that my example adventure is super railroady and is rather used as a starter to show what Michtim can be about. Anyway, my usual style of GMing is also low prep info graphic. I draw boxes with names and draw lines. Basically what Undying calls a Relationship-Map. You should absolutely use such things, they are terrific.

Mutant: Year Zero on the other hand uses Threat Cards (or tables), Artefacts and all sorts of interesting NPCs to build its stories. Some of those things, Michtim does as well. Michtim has an extended NPC section with lots of plot hooks to roll for. I’m not aware that anyone uses these. Most actual plays I’ve heard about are either completely new content or use the premade adventure Spark’s Flight.

Here I’m currently in the ideation phase. Since I do a lot of Cards lately, I might try to stay within this medium… but I’m just exploring options at the moment. For Creatures (I don’t like calling anything a monster) I thought about using the typical stat blocks from the adventure, but actually these blocks could be handled by personality cards or hand-waiving stats anyway. Just pick two stats the creature is good at, and you’re ready to go. Special Mechanics for creatures can be derived from Callings. The system flourishes when you use existing parts. That way expanding Callings would probably offer a lot of new content for Antagonists as well.

The only thing that’s usually different is Health (Wound Tolerance) and Armor as well as Hit-Modifications. Humans have tons of Health, are super resistant to Michtim-inflicted damage but they suffer immense penalties when trying to attack a small (but very fast) Michtim. There you have it. Humans are the game’s dragons already. Customize them with Gear and Callings and you’re good to go.

Gear Cards / Inventory Book

I tried to showcase how the game works right in the core book. But it helps to have options to pick and discover rather than create at the table. I will probably create new stuff in five areas:

Tools. For every Emotion there should be a lot of tools. Anger-Tools (Weapons) are the easiest to create, based on Wound Effects, but let’s not forget the other four Emotions. Grief-Tools could be shields. Joy-Tools are vehicles and Fear-Tools are stealth assets.

Accessories. These offer a one-time effect and a restore condition. Maybe I can make rules for Accessory creation. The Gadget-Synergy (Machinist+Cook) already offers stat-boosting rewindable accessories for example, but there could be a lot of other interesting things. Combine different Restore-Conditions with different effects (maybe based on Callings) and you’re good.

Cloaks. Cloaks are pretty easily created. The ones in the core book are basic ones consisting of one option. The new ones will offer two options. One option buys you:

1 Armor to all sources

2 Armor to a specific source

a special ability.

If there’s no special, you might increase general Armor by 1 or specific Armor by 2… that way you could become Magic-/Tech-/Physical-Immune for example. The challenge is creating new Cloak effects, but again, these can be related to Callings as well. I want to keep things interchangeable. For example there’s this special ability that allows you to hide in plain sight. There might be a stealth-related Calling in the future that does that also.

Potions. One-time usable stuff like Potions should be very helpful. Alchemy and Bocicne are such an important aspect of the game that they might need a small boost by getting their own slot. These could use miniature cards instead of the bigger ones.

Valuables. Coins or Gems could be really useful. These will most likely also use miniature cards.

Creating Adventure Content

I’ve started to work on several adventure modules, but none comes easily at the moment. I wanted to do stuff for my overarching Restore the Veil campaign, but it just can’t be helped. At the moment, I’m not good at creating dungeon maps, so this will have to wait. Maybe some other aspect is more conducive to my abilities. I want to get the most out of my creative abilities.

Boxed Set

I created a mockup of the Boxed Set as I imagine it. At that time I didn’t know I would have 36 Wound Cards, so that part of the info is wrong. The general idea is as follows: Michtim requires a lot of stuff to be really useful.

Hardcover Book. I would love to use a traditionally printed and bound hardcover. The Print-on-Demand version is really good and more than sufficient, but when I get the chance to update the game, I’d at least think about doing a traditional print run for a Kickstarter.

Calling Cards. These exist now for a fairly long time and they are really, really useful. When I decide to create new Callings, I will need to update the Calling Card deck as well, bringing it up to around 17-20 unique Cards times 3. That’s quite a lot of cards. Maybe I’ll just have doubles instead of tripples because of that.

Custom Dice. The dice would be one of the reasons a Kickstartered Box Set would make sense. You can of course play the game with just the book, but the set makes more sense to me.

What really bugs me is the amount of money required to do packaging and orders. I will have to do the math before coming up with a KS. Especially the delivery aspect can be pretty tedious I think. Maybe there is a way I can team up with an US fulfillment company that handles printing and packaging? The dice are already an US product for example. Chessex makes them.

Back in 2009 when I studied Information Design with a major in User Interface Design, I developed my own model of User Experience. I don’t think that there’s this one model that will solve all problems. Rather, I look to the practice of creating this model as a sort of dissection of interaction and all things involved.

I was an avid fan of Don Norman back then; actually I’m still. The book Emotional Design got me onto the track of dividing all experience up into three layers. Don Norman uses the terms Visceral Layer (bodily sensations), Behavioral Layer (interactions) and Reflective Layer (art and meaning). If you want to learn more about the layers, I urge you to get the book. It’s well worth it!

I thought, what if there are some interactions between those Layers? What if they are like objects that communicate with each other? So I tried to find suitable names for things on each layer. The generic model uses these:

Manifestation: The perceivable part of a design. A physical object, or a digital visualisation. Something you are aware of.

Interaction: What you do with the object. The rules of the interaction. What function can be achieved with it. How to handle it.

Reflection: What you think about the object. What are your goals interacting with it? Your cognitive model of the manifestation (even if not perfect).

So then I thought, what are the communications between those instances? How do we get from Manifestation to Interaction? And how does Interaction build up your Reflection? This is where (to me) the magic happens. The communications between these instances is what needs to be optimized for good user experience on an atomic level.

affect (Interaction to Manifestation)

You want to affect the thing. The interaction tells you what to do, so you try to apply force at the object. We are not talking about why you do it. The first step is just doing it.

Examples of bad affect UX

The object is too heavy to affect it (resistance)

You lack the tools to be effective

Mantra: Being effective is about having the power to do things.

observe (Manifestation to Interaction)

When we look at an object or when we handle it, the first thing is that we take in a lot of sensual information. Observations. For ideal observation, these inputs happen imminently but gently. We need feedback to evaluate if we are effective.

Examples of bad observe UX

Long wait for feedback

Imperceivable feedback (no communication)

Too much feedback (overload)

Mantra: Imminent but gentle feedback to provide information

check (Interaction to Reflection)

When we receive information through observation, we can start to analyze our interaction. Are we doing fine? Is this what we wanted? This part becomes clearer when we see its opposite sibling plan (Reflection to Interaction). For now we compare our feedback with whatever we expected. This can lead to problems if the expectations are wrong.

Examples of bad check UX

The feedback is not understandable (foreign language for example)

The feedback is misleading like progress bars that fill aprubtly and do not illustrate the actual progress (obscure design).

Something unexpected happened; this is a pretty common case when people have different previous experiences with things. (wrong expectations)

Mantra: Feedback needs to fit the expectations and must use understandable (design) language

plan (Reflection to Interaction)

We acquire information all the time. Through experience we build mental models that we act upon in our thoughts. We think stuff like „if I press the button, X will happen“ before we actually go and do it. Our mental model (or as I call it Reflection) is nearly never perfect. It is formed by experiences, and we owe it to the user to build stuff that is learnable.

Examples of bad plan UX

The button did X all the time, but now does Y. (change of rules)

The context of interaction changed. (like behavior that’s okay in one culture can be considered rude in a different culture; or an interaction you heavily used on Windows leads to problems on a Mac)

Mantra: Make the context of interaction clear and do not change the rules arbitrarily

recognize (Manifestation to Reflection)

There is a shortcut (or rather a special form of Interaction) that connects Manifestation and Reflection. I call this recognize, and it is the moment you think you know what something is. You see a button and you recognize it as a button. It connects the perception to a mental model, which allows you to know how to operate the thing. This is not without pitfalls though!

Examples of bad recognize UX

Something looks like a button but is a label (deceptive design)

An edit field looks like a label so you don’t know that you can type in it (deceptive design)

A product’s packaging is perforated so you think you can rip it open, but actually the perforation served a different purpose (unintended communication)

Mantra: Similar things should look similar, but different enough to be unique and distinguishable

This is a tough one and needs a bit explaining. In a nuclear reactor, all the buttons are without labels. This does not work, clearly, because although you know how to operate buttons, you do not know what the individual buttons will do. The beauty of design is that it always can communicate upwards (more abstract) and downwards (more concrete). If it is supposed to be pressed, it has to look like a button (abstract). If it will trigger an explosion, it needs to be designed differently from the common buttons; for example with a label, and icon and a different color (concrete).

Deceptive design happens all the time when new design styles show up and get in vogue. Suddenly buttons are flat, so the impression of a 3D button is removed. People handle this differently, depending on their previous experience and their will to try out things. If you buy toxic bleach and it smells and looks like strawberry juice, you are up for a surprise.

query (Reflection to Manifestation)

This communication happens when we look for something. You might go out into a shopping mall and look for food. Everything that you consider to be food will trigger a response. If a product’s packaging is bad, you might not realize that it is food, so you will just walk by.

The same thing happened to me with certain doors. Before I got my electronic key dongle, I just walked to the door and tried to open it. The design was bad, because it implied that I could just open it with the typical mechanism. The affordance told me only half the truth. I needed to unlock the door with my ID, but the reader was hidden, probably because of lack of space. Bad UX.

Examples of bad query UX

You look for certain brand products, but the company has changed the packaging to look completely different (deceptive design again)

You want to close a window and look for an X, but the actual way to close the window is a small stop sign that is hidden in the bottom right corner (intentionally deceptive)

Mantra: Make stimuli recognizable and consistent

Epilogue

This model helped me acquire a better understanding of UX. Maybe it will prove useful to you as well. There is one possible addon mantra to keep in mind:

Mantra: Sometimes challenges make products better

Not every product benefits from ease-of-use. A lot of games intentionally break those mantras so you can best those situations. You can clearly categorize games according to the parts that they intentionally make difficult.

So, if you know my #RPG#Michtim already, maybe you know that it’s the practical part of my #MasterThesis in #Media & #InteractionDesign . I self-published the game three years ago, when life was really tumultuous for me. In the meantime I have changed jobs a lot, had a heart surgery and suffered through a tough phase of burnout and depression.

The game has always been a beacon of hope for me. Any time I would feel down and frustrated, I would pick it up and look at my hand-drawn sketch that I made the day I received the very first physical copy of Michtim. It reads “12.10.12. Best Day of my Life so far!”

Though I have entered the game at the ENnies shortly after it’s publication, I wasn’t nominated or anything. I tried to submit it to other awards also, but no success. INSTEAD, I got awesome reviews and shreds of laughter from people who actually liked the game. THAT was much better, I thought, and so I carried on; trying not to be pushy.

Imagine my surprise as the host of #WorldUsabilityCongress contacted me to inform me that I was finally nominated for the #WorldExperienceAward 2015! I received a free ticket and could present my game. Many of you have had encouraging words for me, and I felt the love.

Though I didn’t win in the end, I ranked second and pretty close to first place. Winning would have been awesome, don’t get me wrong, but what I really took away from presenting at the congress was that people liked the game and felt it was inspiring in some way. And I heard one thing a lot:

Why don’t you make the thesis available to the public?

And this is what I did today; three years after publishing the game, now you can have a look at my design decisions. The thesis also touches on topics like #equality and #gender . Things you can deduce from the game’s design, but which aren’t expressly written in the rules.

Well! I’ve already talked too much. Have a look at the thesis if you like! If you think you should receive it for free (like if you’re a supporter or friend), just give me a note. I’ll send you a 100% discount link in private.

Thank you for your ongoing support. You folks are awesome and I love you all!

When I set out to create Michtim: Fluffy Adventures, I already had a dozen years of experience playing and game-mastering pen & paper roleplaying games. It was only after 2007 that I finally accepted that I was indeed gay. Before then, nearly all of my characters were straight, and I tried hard to be something I was not.

After 2007, I had a different perspective on many of the games I owned and used to play. I stumbled over game mechanics that were heteronormative; wordings like “members of the opposite sex….” That really bugged me. What if – I argued – my gay character met a sexy female that tried to charm him? Why should I fall for it? I thought that my sexuality, and well my essence, was being excluded.

Now sex was seldom of importance in my gaming circles. It was just that I felt the vibe of non-normalcy. It is something that isn’t very comfortable. Geeks are often already ridiculed when they’re kids. If you’re geek on the brink of accepting who you are, you need every friend you can get. A rulebook that basically tells you “Erm, you’re not okay.” hurts my feeling. Sure, I can try to ignore it, but if it’s part of the rules, then someone probably is going to pull it out on you. Saying stuff like “You know, it’s in the rules.”

There’s a game by a German designer that’s really cool. It has an awesome noir steampunk setting. Mixing elements of gothic intrigue with the hunt for fragments of your lost soul. That game has awesome artwork and it really caught my attention. Then I read the game’s view on homosexuality. It was deemed a deviancy by the setting’s inhabitants. A shame to be hidden. Well. That was the moment I lost all further interest. It sits on my shelf, but I have the feeling of being rejected by the game. Why does it need to tell me that I’m not okay? Yeah, in the setting homosexuality might be deemed inappropriate, but if I want to explore that, I can just go out into the real world.

I need a safe place. Something to comfort me. Tell me that I’m okay the way I am.That’s Michtim. It is a game that’s suitable for kids, but it also has a variety of political messages. Humans destroy the environment, and we have to stop them! Or taking care of those who have fewer than us, is important. Michtim has a rich interaction between three houses, who each emphasise different values. But you know what’s not a matter of controversy? Sexuality.

Michtim culture is open and accepting of queer love. There are even polyamory couples who raise a nest of young Michtims. Gender is also an open field. On the outside, there is no true visual distinction between Females (Moschischke), Males (Michterische) and Intersex (Meschne) Michtims. All sexes can be everything, and be damn good at it. There are big, muscular female warriors like Apollonia Stahlfaust. But there are also more feminine Moschischke, like Thekla Leckertopf. The game does not ask the player for the sex of their character. Because it is not important. This is established solely in the fiction, and that’s for a reason. Meschne Michtims are quite common, and they encompass all sorts of in-between variations. The reason these have a label is for Human players to understand the distinctions. Michtims do not really care about that at all.

So when kids play Michtim, will they be endangered by all this equality and LGBT “propaganda”? I hope not. But I want kids to know that even if they think “I’m different.” that they see value in that. An opportunity, not a threat. And I want them to know that everyone deserves a place in society, no matter how they were born.
If I had been told earlier that I was okay no matter who I fell in love with, I would have had an easier time accepting myself.